The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-07-06
REV. DR., TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUM-
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "How to Save the Cities"

| Ana ne Sdtd. BRING me o. 7leU cruise, G1tC
put salt therein. ,And they brought it to him
! And he ,Uent forth unto the spring Of tn,
,Uaters, and cast the saH in there, and said
! Thus, said the Lord, / haze healed ueS,
, 1cdters: there shall not be from thence any
more death or barren land. So the ,cater.
,cere heoled unto this ddy."-2 Kings ii.
| 1922.
1t is difficult to estimate how much Of the
prosperity and health of city are dependent
upon good water. The time when, through
well-laid pipes and from safe reservoir, ar
/ abundance of water from Croton, or Ridge
wood, or Schuylkill is brought into the city
is appropriately celebrated with grafton and
pyrotechnic display. Thank God every day
| for clear, bright, beautiful, sparkling water
as it drops in the shower, or tosses up In the
| fountain, or rushes out at the hydrant.
| The City of Jericho. Notwithstanding all
its physical and commercial advantages, was
| lacking in this important element. There
| was enough water, but it was diseased apd
! the people were crying out by reason thereof.
Elisha the prophet, comes to the rescue. He
says: "Get me new cruise; fill it with salt
and bring it to me-" So the cruise of salt was
brought to the prophet, and see him walk
ing out to the general reservoir, and To-. all
the impurities depart, througha supernatural
! and divine influence, and the waters are
good and fresh and clear, and all the people
clap their hands and lift up their faces in the
gladness Water for Jelicho-clear, bright,
beautiful, God-given water!
At different times have pointed out to you
the fountains of municipal corruption, and
this morning propose to show you what are
the means for the rectifcation of those foun-
tains. There are four or five kinds Of salt
that have cleansing tendency. So far as
God may help me, I shall bring cruise Of
salt to the work, and empty it into the great
reservoir of municipal crime, sin, and shame,
ignorance and abomination.
In this work of cleansing our cities, l have
first to remark, that there is work for the
broom and shovel that nothing else can do
There always has been an intimate connection
between iniquity and dirt. The filthy parts
of the great cities are always the most iniqui-
tous parts. The cutters and the pavements
of the Fourth Ward, New York, illustrate
and symbolic the character Of the people in
the Fourth Ward.
The first thing that, a bad man does when
he is converted is thoroughly to wash him.
self. There were, this morning, on the way
to the different churches, thousands Of men in
proper apparel who, before their conversion,
were unfit in their Sabbath dress. When on
the Sabbath I see man uncleanly in his
dress my suspicious in regard to his moral
character are aroused; and they are always
well founded. So as to allow no excuse for
lack Of ablution, God has cleft the continents
with rivers and lakes, and has sunk five great
oceans, and all the world ought to be clean.
Away, then, with the dirt from our cities,
not only because the physical health needs an
ablution, but because all the great moral and
religious interests of the cities demand it as a
positive necessity. A filthy city always has
been and always will be wicked city.
Through the upturning of the earth for
great Improvement our city could not be ex-
pected to be as clean as usual, but for the
49, 49, o. 1.,% %os.~
months there is no excuse. 1t is not merely
matter Of dust in the eyes, and mud for the
shoes, and Of stencil for the nostrils, but Of
morals for the soul.
Another corrective influence that we would
bring to bear upon the evils Of great cities
is Christian printing press. The news
papers of any place are the test of its moral
ity. The newsboy who runs along the street
with roll OF papers under his arm is a tre-
mendous force that cannot be turned aside
nor resisted, and at his every step the
city is elevated or degraded. This hun
cry, all-devouring American mind must
have something to read, and upon ed
itors and authors and book publishers and
parents and teachers rests the responsibility OF
what they shall read Almost every man
you meet has book in his hand or a news
paper in his pocket. What book is it you
have in your hand! What newspaper is it
you have in your pocket! Ministers may
preach, reformers may plan, philanthropists
may toll for the elevation Of the suffer-
ing and the criminal, but until all
the newspapers of the land and all
the booksellers of the land set themselves
against an iniquitous literature-until then
we shall be fighting against fearful odds.
Every time the cylinders of our great pub
fishing houses turn they make the earth
quake. From them goes forth thought like
an angel of light to feed and bless the world,
or like an angel of darkness to smite it with
corruption and sin and shame and death. May
God by His omnipotent Spirit purify and ele-
vate the American printing press!
go on further and say that We must de-
pend upon the school for great deal Of cor
recting influence. A community can no more
afford to have ignorant men in its midst than
it can afford to have uncaged hyenas. Ig-
norance is the mother Of hydra-headed crime.
Thirty one per cent. Of all the criminals OF
New York State can neither read nor write.
Intellectual darkness is generally the pre-
cursor Of moral darkness. I know
there are educated outlaws-men
who, through their sharpness Of in
tellect, are made more dangerous. They
use their fine penmanship in signing other
peoples names. and their science in ingenious
Durgiartes, and their fine manners in adroit
ibertinism. They go their round Of sin with
well-cut apparel, and dangling jewelry, and
watches of eighteen karats, and kid gloves.
They are refined, educated, magnificent vii
lains. But that is the exception. 1t is generally
the case that the criminal classes are as igno-
rant as they are wicked. For the proof Of
what say, go into the prisons and peniten-
tiaries, and look upon the men and women in
carcerated. The dishonesty in the eye, the
low passion in the lip, are not more conspicu-
Gus than the ignorance in the forehead. The
ignorant classes are always the dangerous
classes. Demagogues marshal them. They
are helmlesS and are driven before the gale.
1t is high time that all city and State au-
thority, as well as the Federal Government,
appreciate the awful statistics that while years
ago in this country there was set apart forty
eight millions Of acres for school purposes,
there are now in New England one hundred
and ninety-one thousand people who can
neither read nor write, and in the State of
Pennsylvania two hundred and twenty
two thousand who can neither read nor
write, and in the State Of New York two
hundred and forty-one thousand who can
neither read nor write, while in the United
States there are nearly six millions who can
neither read nor write Statistics enough to
stagger and confound any man who loves his
God and his country. Now, in view Of this
fact, | am in favor Of compulsory educa-
tion. When parents are so bestial as to neglect
with strong hand, at the same time with
gentle hand ought to lead these little ones into
the light of intelligence and good morals It
was beautiful tableau when in our city
swarthy policeman, having picked up a lost
child in the street, was found appeasing its
cries with stick of candy he had bought at
the apple-stand. That was well done, and
beautifully done. But, oh! these thou
sands of little ones through our streets